Keep ‘Star Wars’ Weird: Lucasfilm Gamechanges Itself Into The Interdimensional & Deeper Into The Mystic

I keep carping on about this, but “Star Wars” is not only evolving, but it featured a game changing, universe-altering moment this week thanks to the animated “Star Wars Rebels,” a show that the franchise’s movie fans need to start paying attention to immediately. “Nothing will ever be the same” the “Star Wars” website said in their recap of the most recent episode “A World Between Worlds” and they obviously know what’s up. The future of the “Star Wars” universe could be foretold in this show and Lucasfilm is doing more than just hinting at it.

Let’s back up a bit. “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” was divisive, as fans took issue with the ways of the Force expanding and becoming altered; new powers were unveiled and some of them were a bridge too far for diehards. General Leia Organa did her infamous “space walk” where she intuitively pulled herself back to safety after being blown into space; Kylo Ren and Rey had shared visions and a “Skype Force” connection despite being miles and planets apart; and Luke Skywalker made an astral projection of himself on Crait, despite being far off on the planet Ach-To. Additionally, there was that moment on Ach-To when Rey discovers a portentous, potentially sinister cavern beneath the island where she asked a reflective rock about her family lineage and things got very weird and fragmented, in mystical and unexplainable ways.

All of this was just too much for some fans, hence the blowback and generally polarizing conversation, albeit, mostly online where everything is toxic (“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” was the highest grossing film of 2017 with $1.33 billion in receipts, so clearly many loved it). But like it or not, we’re still learning the extent of the Force powers and it seems as if they are more vast than we could have ever anticipated.

On “Star Wars Rebels,” a show that takes place after “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and just before “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” a motley crew of rebels fight covert missions against the Empire who have essentially reigned over the galaxy for more than a decade. The series, showrun by mastermind Dave Filoni, is nearing the end and it’s been getting surreal. I’ve already posited that in some ways, ‘Rebels’ has been having a conversation with ‘The Last Jedi,’ or the Force expansion in Rian Johnson‘s film is hinting at what’s going on in in the animated show. And after Monday night’s ‘Rebels’ penultimate episodes, “Wolves and a Door” and “A World Between Worlds,” it appears this theory is correct, or at least onto something.

In this final season, “Star Wars Rebels” is set on Lothal, the planet where it all began. I’ve gone over this backstory before (which you can read about here), but in short, even though Obi-Wan Kenobi was thought to be the last of his Jedi kind there are two Jedis on the show: the blind Jedi Kanan Jarrus (who was killed in the antepenultimate episode) and his apprentice Ezra Bridger. Lothal has a special connection to the Force. An ancient Jedi Temple was once said to be hidden beneath the planet’s surface and one of its species  on the planet are the thought-to-be extinct Loth-wolves, force sensitive creatures that could communicate and manifest themselves to Jedis and others with strong Force powers.

Following Kanan Jarrus’ death, rather than returning as a Force ghost like we’ve seen Yoda and Obi-Wan do in the movies, his manifested himself through a Loth wolf who was intuitively speaking to Ezra in a manner even he didn’t quite fully understand.